Archive for July, 2014

Did I say ‘wordless’? Okay, so it’s not completely wordless. Today is my 41st birthday. I do not dread this day (nor did I dread the big four-o day). These are the happiest times in my life. There have been a lot of bumps in my early years, but one great thing has been constant for all 41 of them and that is dogs. Let me share them with you.

I showed you a photo of this dog last week. Wendy wasn’t just special to my mom, she was special to me because she was the first dog I was ever exposed to.

My mom was worried about how Wendy would react to me as a newborn baby. Luckily, Wendy adored me and she was very protective of me. She would sleep under my crib and she’d watch me carefully whenever anyone held me.

I showed you this photo last week too. While I was growing up, my mom had a number of dogs, but Cassie was the first dog that was considered my dog.

When my mom took Cassie in, I was just 10 years old. Cassie immediately attached herself to me and would only sleep with me in my room, even when it was my sister’s turn to have her.

After I moved out of my parent’s house I, of course, took Cassie with me. Cassie was getting older and I thought a new puppy would liven things up a bit. Cassie wasn’t as thrilled about Smokey as I was, but they did play from time to time and Smokey did put a bit of a spring into her step.

My dog Smokey was my hiking buddy. We spent three days roughing it as we hiked around Georgetown Lake in Texas.

Here’s a better photo of my dog Smokey, also taken at Georgetown Lake.

Smokey and I did a lot of outdoor things together. Swimming was one of his favorites.

After a year or so of getting Smokey, I started working for the animal shelter in Austin, Texas. Since then I adopted and fostered a number of dogs (and cats). I don’t talk about them as much as the others because I had to leave them with my ex after we got divorced. The divorce ended badly so I do not know what became of them. I can only hope he cared for them or gave them to good homes.

Huckleberry Hound was rescued from the back of a Uhaul truck with 50 other dogs. The dogs were all sick with Parvo. Huckleberry was the only one that pulled through. He lived at the shelter for three months before I decided to take him home. Huck lived with me for four years before he got out of the fence one day and was struck and killed by a car. 😦

Huck with Scrapper and Grady. Scrapper is the cat and he loved to walk on a leash outside. Grady was my dad and stepmom’s dog. They gave up Grady because they couldn’t train him. They do not have the dog-sense that my mom has.

Patra (short for Cleopatra) is the tortoiseshell cat and is the first cat I rescued from the animal shelter. She was a stray and was in rabies observation for a week for scratching a child. She was going to be euthenized but I didn’t let it happen. I don’t remember how I got Scrapper, the white with gray kitty. And Dillan, the all gray kitten, was rescued from the jaws of a Doberman named Dillan.

I fostered Molly for a few weeks, during which time she earned the nickname of Molly McButter.

From left to top then bottom right: Skittles, Max, and Puddles. These were foster pups I had for a few weeks.

I honestly don’t remember how I got Spider (so named because he often climbed the curtains and walls). He is one of the ones I was forced to leave behind when I got divorced.

Becky Anne, the G. Shepherd-colored Whippet mix, was going to be put to sleep because she wasn’t cute enough. Yes, it’s true. The man in charge of the shelter I worked at decided he didn’t like me and immediately ordered the dog to be put to sleep when he found out I took interest in her. Sheba is the Rottweiler mixed that was abandoned in front of my house. I guess her owners decided that since I already had five dogs, I wouldn’t notice the sixth! I had Sheba for two years before she got out with Huckleberry and was never heard from again, even though she was wearing her tags. 😦

Achilles came from a box of pups that someone was giving away in front of Walmart. I had him for almost three years before he escaped from the yard and was never seen again. He had tags, but I lived in the country so anything could have happened. 😦

If you’ve been following this blog, then you remember this dog. Like my dog Achilles, Sephi was named from Greek mythology (short for Persephone). My ex gave Sephi to me because he felt guilty for cheating on me. Of course, I didn’t know this at the time. Sephi was the only dog I was able to keep from the divorce. I couldn’t keep the others because I wasn’t working and so my ex got to keep our house.

Sephi was my sole companion for many hears after my divorce. She passed away at the age of 11 in November 2011.

My two current best buds are Maya and Pierson.

Maya was adopted by a family with two toddlers and an infant. After one week, they posted her on Craigslist and I was the lucky responder. Pierson was rescued from Pierson Park in Kansas City, Kansas.

That’s all the words I have on this very special Wordy Wordless Wednesday. For more doggy fun, check out the blog hop link below.

My mother is amazing! She took a turn for the worse a couple of weeks ago but is determined to still live her life with a smile. She is so determined that she wants to get up and do things. In fact, she is actually doing much better right now. This past weekend, she went to check out the neighborhood garage sales. She loves garage sales. My stepdad says she was wide awake at about 5:30 am Saturday morning ready to go! Thursday, hospice arranged to get her a ride into town. Mom really wanted to go to Walmart. Here are a few recent photos of my amazing mom.

My mom loves to laugh. She got a kick out of this silly mask my stepdad got for her.

My mom loves garage sales. This was taken on July 19, 2014.

My stepdad and the friend they are staying with, Bill, each bought my mom a stuffed animal, which my mom named Mandy and Casper.

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you know I got my love for dogs from my mom. When I was a girl, my mom was the town’s unofficial dog rescuer. Wendy, in the photo below, was initially a stray. My mom got her exactly one year before I was born.

There was a Collie my mom had before I was born. I think his name was Ranger. When he was was given up by his owners he was covered in mats. I have a photo of Ranger, but the scan didn’t come out well. In the photo, he has a luxurious coat, all thanks to my mom’s loving care. Squash was a Mastiff mixed abandoned by our neighbors. He was tied on a short thick chain in the back yard and left there. Squash became a loving family member who later returned the kindness by protecting my baby sister from a pack or a pair ( I can’t remember) of aggressive dogs.

Cassie was a Sheltie given up by her family. My mom took her in, but Cassie attached herself to me and became my dog.

Rocky is the dog that recently passed away just before my mom was diagnosed with brain cancer. He was posted on Craigslist as a dog “free to a good home”. Luckily, he found a great home with my mom.

My mom recently lost her dog Rocky. This is him standing on the top of her chair. Rocky was a very lovable dog but he loved my mom more than anyone.

Solo was also a “free to good home” on rollanet in Rolla, MO. She came from a terrible dog breeding situation that got way out of hand. Before my mom saved her, Solo lived in a small cage full of dog crap with two other dogs. Solo came with a ton of issues including extreme shyness, fear aggression, and just plain aggression. Today, she is by my mom’s bedside and living the high life. Her shyness and aggression is mostly gone, although she still dislikes other dogs. She is a much different dog than she was when my mom first got her. Love can do that.

My mom survived lung cancer a few years ago. This is her after recovery and with her dog Solo.

There were so many other dogs that my mom rescued. I remember Max, Lady, Lips, an Afghan Hound, and so many more that I don’t recall the names of. With her generous love, my mom has changed the lives of so many animals. And it is obvious animals have had a positive influence on her. She doesn’t let her illness get her down and the smallest things make her happy. She is truly amazing and I am so proud to have her as my mom.

Left to Right: Pierson, Jinbo, Jinbo’s mom holding Jinbo’s son Eric, Sha Sha, Jinbo’s dad, me, my husband Li Xi, Maya. Jinbo’s parents lived with us for about 6 months. Sha Sha’s mom was here for a while at one time as well. We had quite the house full. 🙂

Since I haven’t done too much posting these past few months, I thought I’d go backwards and fill you in on some going-ons. It might seem a little strange for a married couple to have housemates, but here’s the scoop on our friends (and recent housemates) Sha Sha and Jinbo.

We had a house with a finished basement. The basement had two carpeted bedrooms and a living area. And it had a full bathroom. The only thing it didn’t have was a kitchen. But it was more than enough space and we didn’t need it all, so why not rent the basement out?

We lived right near KU so certainly there were some students in need of inexpensive living space. My husband, being Chinese and being a part time student at KU, posted an ad on the Chinese student classified section of the KU website.

We’ve had a few housemates over the past few years and everything had always worked out great. Sha Sha and Jinbo were our most recent housemates. They moved in almost two years ago and became like family. And almost a year ago today, they had a baby boy!

There are several things to consider when a new baby comes into the home, but most of them didn’t apply to us. Maya and Pierson are my dogs but the new baby isn’t mine, so there were no jealousy issues. The dogs were not allowed in the basement so all interactions with the baby were strictly supervised. The biggest concern, but still a relatively minor one, was Pierson’s barking habit. He barks at everything. This is why I ended up getting him a bark control collar.

Our housemates had to move out this April. They got a job back home in China and so had to leave the states. It was a very sad goodbye. Oddly, within a couple of weeks after they moved out, we found out we had to sell the house and move too. Everything worked out perfectly in that situation, but we still miss them.

Just before my mom was diagnosed with brain cancer, her dog Rocky passed away in his sleep. My mom really loved Rocky and wanted to have him memorialized with art. And not just art from anyone. She wanted me to draw him. 🙂

It really helps me to draw a dog if I have a great photo, and my mom had the perfect one of Rocky.

It took a few sketches to get the proportions of Rocky right.

I traced the sketch onto acid free pastel paper. As always, the first color I added was to the eyes and nose using pastel pencils.

The next part was coloring Rocky’s open mouth. This was actually far more difficult that I first thought it would be.

I’m almost done!

The final touches were adding Rocky’s whiskers (which is something I almost always forget) and adding texture to his long neck fur. This photo is actually a little dark compared to the original. Imagine the fur as white as in the previous image.

I was lucky enough to be able to complete this drawing while my mom was visiting me (which was just before I moved to Iowa). She was able to watch me draw and got to see me finish it. And I am proud to say that she absolutely loved it!

For more great pet photos, check out the Wordless Wednesday blog hop link below:

We’re finally moved and settled into our new home in Des Moines, Iowa. It’s been a rough journey for me because of all the things happening on or around the move:

We said goodbye to our housemates who lived with us for two years, my mom was diagnosed with brain cancer, I found a lost dog, I participated in a pet event with my PetAutoSafety.com pet products, I went to visit my mom in Oregon, when I returned my husband started his new job in Iowa so I organized the contractors for painting and home repair, I took my final exam for statistics (and made an A), I wrote a report for my human relations class, we moved, I unpacked boxes and organized our household, Maya got beat up by another dog and I tended her wounds, my mom is still doing well but getting worse, someone wants to buy our house but wants other repairs done first so I am organizing that from long distance, I was really sick for a couple of weeks, and I am working on enrolling in a school here in Iowa so I can finish getting my degree.

Whew! We’re pretty much settled in now and I’m finally getting back into routine. But enough about me! What about Maya and Pierson?

DANGEROUS FOOD SCARE

While still at the house in Kansas, we had a huge scare with Maya and Pierson getting into food that the contractor workers left outside. Pierson ate half a chicken bone and Maya ate half a candy bar. I was so upset! Luckily, nothing came of it. Pierson later puked up the bone pieces with no ill effects and Maya only ended up with soft stool for a day.

DRIVE TO IOWA

The trip went very well. Maya and Pierson were very comfortable and very well behaved in the car. As you know, I use a number of pet travel products from my PetAutoSafety.com website. The newest one I got to try out was the Pet Dek. It is a lot like the Backseat Bridge with a few differences. Most of those differences are good, but there are a few cons. Read the pros and cons of the Pet Dek on my blog. And click the image below to be directed to my retail website.

Look how much room Maya and Pierson have in the car with the new Pet Dek!

Maya and Pierson also wore their dog car seat belts. Pierson wore the Ruff Rider Roadie and Maya wore the ClickIt Utility. I had the windows down during the drive but they couldn’t put their heads out because I have the Breeze Guard car window screens in place. And I put Travel Calm on both Maya and Pierson just before we left. Maya is crazy in the car and Travel Calm helps a lot. It also has ingredients to help with car sickness. Even though Pierson hasn’t had trouble with car sickness for a long time, I still wanted to make sure he was comfortable.

FENCED YARD?

I mentioned in my post on May 15th that we don’t have a fenced yard anymore. Someone asked if we were going to get it fenced. The answer is no. There really isn’t any need. Maya and Pierson are indoor dogs. Even when they did have a fenced yard, they didn’t take advantage of it much. Don’t worry, Maya and Pierson are only out on a chain for a few minutes a few times a day and they are supervised the entire time. I did get a baby gate for the back porch. This will allow me to keep the back door open on nice days and allow them to enjoy the fresh air without having to worry about them being in the yard unattended.

We don’t have a fenced yard so in nicer weather, we will hang out on the back porch, which is blocked off with a baby gate.

LOCKED IN BASEMENT

A few days after we moved in to our new house, I accidentally locked Maya in the basement. I didn’t realize she had followed me down and so when I went back up, she stayed down there for a while. By the time I realized it, I was so worried about her. There was still a lot of junk in the basement left by the previous renters and I was worried rat poison might have been left down there. There was rat poison left under a bathroom sink, so I wasn’t sure where else this stuff might have been left. Luckily, the landlord confirmed that they did not put any rat poison in the basement.

MAYA GETS BEAT UP

Maya had some back luck with some dogs in the neighborhood. There were two incidents and they were completely accidental. I would not consider them the result of irresponsible dog owners at all. I will talk more in detail about that in a few days. Don’t worry, Maya is okay. She just had to wear the cone of shame for a while.

Poor Maya.

A quick little update on my mom – She is sleeping up to 22 hours per day now. Some days she does very well and other days she has problems with confusion and hallucinations. My stepdad is taking very good care of her and she now has help from hospice care. She is in good hands and surprisingly still in good spirits.

Thank you everyone, for stopping by. I think you will start to see me visit your blogs again. I’ve really missed everyone and can’t wait to catch up with all of you. 🙂

The four-letter f-word at our house has a whole different (and much better) meaning.

“Did someone say FOOD?”

“I’m pretty sure you said you were going to give me food for posing in this new handmade dog collar from our friend Yinghua.”

(Admittedly, the photo of Pierson is from a while back when we still lived in Kansas. But it isn’t a photo I have posted before. Maya’s photo, however, is recent. Our friend, Yinghua, made this for Maya and sent it to us just after we moved to Iowa.)

I hope you enjoyed the Wordless Wednesday blog hop! Check out the link below to see more cute pet photos.